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24, 2012 | V
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MISSISSIPPIAN T h e S t u d e n t N e w s pa p e r
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University employee dies Reasons behind the smoking ban University admissions specialist in distance and online learning, Julius Minor, died Saturday morning.
Co-chair of the Smoke-Free Policy Implementation Committee Shannon Richardson and Chief of University Police Calvin Sellers discuss reasons behind the university-wide smoking ban.
BY GRANT BEEBE sgbeebe@go.olemiss.edu
COURTESY OLE MISS RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE
Julius Minor poses with his children. Minor was an admissions specialist in distance and online learning at Ole Miss.
Julius Minor, the husband of Luckyday Residential College Fellow Ethel Young-Minor and university employee, died Saturday morning. Minor suffered a heart attack and was unable to be resuscitated at the hospital. His death came as a surprise to Young-Minor, who said that although her husband had high blood pressure and diabetes, he was in good health. “He worked out all the time and ate really well,” she said. Young-Minor asked that the university community keep her family in their prayers. “We’re very thankful for how supportive the community has been,” Young-Minor said. “The community was near and dear to his heart.” The Minor family hopes to have visitation on Friday and the funeral Saturday afternoon. Dates and arrangements are not final at this time.
‘Was he going to raise the flag?’ John Hawkins, The University of Mississippi’s first black cheerleader, and former reporter for The Daily Mississippian Kitty Dumas recollect Hawkins’ adversity and the controversy surrounding the Confederate flag. BY KELTON BROOKS krbrooks@go.olemiss.edu
Even though years had passed since James Meredith took one of the most infamous steps on campus, the lingering effects of racism didn’t completely subside. John Hawkins, Ole Miss’ first black cheerleader, came under fire when he refused to wave the confederate flag after he made the team in 1982. Clara Bibbs, Hawkins’ friend and also an African-American, auditioned but did not make the team. “When I made the team, it was totally a fluke,”
Hawkins said. “I was trying to be supportive of and helpful for my friend Clara.” As a member of the cheerleading team, Hawkins said his teammates treated him fairly and were very happy for him. However, it took time for the university to accept him. Kitty Dumas, now a writer and communications consultant at KITCOM, wrote about Hawkins’ ordeal during her time as a writer for The Daily Mississippian. “There were a lot of people who saw that as a challenge,” Dumas said. “A See DUMAS, PAGE 4
FILE PHOTO (QUENTIN WINSTINE) | The Daily Mississippian
Students protest the smoking ban in the Grove.
BY GRANT BEEBE sgbeebe@go.olemiss.edu
Students, faculty and staff alike have recently found The University of Mississippi community divided by a debate concerning the university-wide smoking ban, which was enacted this past summer. Shannon Richardson, assistant director of campus recreation and co-chair of the Smoke-Free Policy Implementation Committee, said a resolution was passed last year for a smoke-free campus by the Associated Student Body. “This committee was formed after the ASB voted to pass a referendum to create a new policy that would prevent smoking on campus,” Richardson said. “The intentions of this policy are first and foremost to protect people on our campus from breathing secondhand smoke.” Smokeless tobacco is not
banned by the policy, as the only harm posed by such substances are to the user. The University of Mississippi Police Chief Calvin Sellers said UPD officers have distributed warnings to individuals smoking on campus. “We have passed out a couple of boxes’ worth of warning cards,” he said. No records are retained in regard to warnings. “Once people know they can get a ticket, and it starts costing them money, it may be a little different,” he said. “We have too much of a warning time, and people are not paying much attention to it.” Both Sellers and Richardson point to the failures of the past policy, which included designated smoking areas, in illustrating the necessity for the outright ban. “The former designated smoking areas policy failed to protect the campus from secondhand smoke, even be-
ing in effect for three years,” Richardson said. “Subsequently, the Smoke-Free Campus Policy Implementation Committee was created and charged with implementing the smoke-free campus policy.” Sellers said the enforcement of smoking zones was difficult. “People did not know where the smoking areas were,” he said. “Now, if people are smoking at all, there is no question that they are in violation.” Richardson said the problem of smoking on campus was not “just students.” “There are faculty, staff and students (and visitors) that did not adhere to the designated smoking areas,” Richardson said. “People were still having to walk through clouds of smoke while walking on campus.” Tickets will not be distributed until Jan. 1, and $25 will be fined for the first offense.